Huffington Magazine Issue 91 | Page 47

COURTESY OF REACH RECORDS THE COOL CHRISTIAN tle books about Christianity, but more little books by Christians on other subjects — with their Christianity latent,” Lewis wrote. There was an aesthetic and moral driver behind this sentiment: If you are an artist, make art, not instructional materials, because that is the right thing to do and that is how you reflect positively on your creator. The same goes for science, or politics. But Lewis’ exhortation was inherently strategic. His point, essentially, was that the best way to influence how people think is HUFFINGTON 03.09.14 not to hit them over the head with your point of view, but rather to shape subtly the things they assume to be true about the world. Lecrae acknowledged that the question of influence is behind his desire to be known first as a musician, rather than a member of a religion. “I’m digesting C.S. Lewis and Tim Keller and so on and so forth, Francis Schaeffer,” Lecrae said, referencing some of the most influential evangelical thinkers of the last half-century. “I’m seeing how they’ve affected culture and politics and science and so on and so forth, with implicit faith versus explicit faith.” “On my worst days, I ask myself, ‘Am I everything these Christians say I am? Am I the hypocrite, am I falling off?”